This invention relates to a litter box assembly which includes structure formable into a litter box and a sheet of flexible material. This sheet may function as a protective envelope for the assembly during distribution to the purchaser, and during use of the assembly may be unfolded to lie flat against the floor or other support and provide a protective underlayment. The sheet further may be employed to enclose the box and its contents after use and during disposal.
While it is difficult to train pets such as dogs to perform elimination functions in a given location such as a box, such is not true of kittens and cats. This pet specie can be quite readily trained to dispose of body wastes in a designated region. As a consequence, cat litter boxes are known which conventionally are provided with a bed of litter material, and these boxes containing litter are left in a known place in the dwelling where the cat returns on feeling the need for relief.
While cats are known to be relatively neat in their actions, it is not uncommon for some litter to be displaced from the box during use, which messes the area around the box. Furthermore, a box and its contents at some time must be discarded, which often times requires that the box and its contents be wrapped in some manner if proper disposal is to be effectuated. This raises a convenience problem.
An object of this invention is the provision of a novel box structure and underlayment assembly, which in a practical and very satisfactory manner takes care of the various problems usually associated with the use and disposal of a litter box.
A further object is to provide such an assembly which can be produced and sold at relatively low cost.
In a preferred embodiment of the invention, the assembly comprises a panel of stiff, box-forming material, which includes a central rectangular portion and flaps joined to this rectangular portion through score lines. The rectangular portion is suitably secured to an expanse of sheet material, which typically might be a sheet of plastic, such sheet material being unjoined to the flaps mentioned. The assembly may be marketed with the sheet material folded over the panel discussed, thus to protect it and provide a non-bulky thin piece of merchandise. To prepare for use, the sheet is opened up and provides an underlayment for a litter box which is constructed from the panel. More specifically, the flaps in the panel are folded upwardly and ends suitably interanchored to provide the upstanding walls of the litter box. With a bed of cat litter provided in the box, the box acts to confine the litter, with the box and its contents acting as an attractant for the cat. When disposing of the box and its contents, margins of the sheet expanse are brought together over the box and secured as by a drawstring.